The Gaza Sunbirds are Palestine's first and only para-cycling team. We race because international sport is one of the few places where a nation can tell its own story. Every time a Palestinian athlete reaches the start line, Palestine is seen not through statistics, headlines, or tragedy, but through determination, excellence, and human potential.

For us, racing has never been only about medals. It is about ensuring that Palestinians with disabilities are recognised as athletes, competitors, leaders, and ambassadors for their country. It is about creating a future where Palestine is present at the world's biggest sporting events, and where young Palestinians growing up with disabilities can see that they belong there too.

Today, Gaza has one of the highest rates of conflict-related amputations in the world. Thousands of people have lost limbs during the ongoing assault, including many children. In this context, para-sport becomes far more than recreation. It becomes rehabilitation, community, dignity, and hope.

The Gaza Sunbirds were founded in 2020 after our co-founder, Alaa Al-Dali, lost his leg after being shot by an Israeli sniper while peacefully protesting in 2018. Rather than giving up on his dream of becoming an international cyclist, he chose to build something much bigger: Palestine's first para-cycling team.

That vision has grown into a movement. Today, the Gaza Sunbirds are developing athletes inside Gaza wherever possible, training elite athletes in Europe, building rehabilitation and cycling programmes in Belgium and Egypt, and creating opportunities for women and young people with disabilities to represent Palestine internationally.

We believe Palestine should not only receive solidarity from the world, it should also contribute to it. Through sport, we want Palestine to become a global leader in adaptive cycling, disability inclusion, rehabilitation through sport, and refugee athlete development. We want to share the knowledge we've built under siege, occupation, displacement, and war with communities facing similar challenges around the world.

Every international race strengthens that mission. Competition creates visibility. Visibility creates partnerships. Partnerships create opportunities for more Palestinians with disabilities to access rehabilitation, sport, education, and community. Our performances on the road help make everything else possible.

What your support makes possible

Your donation is an investment in the future of Palestinian para-sport and the people who will shape it.

1. Develop Palestinian athletes and coaches

We support athletes at every stage of their journey—from rehabilitation and learning to ride, to competing at the highest level of international para-cycling. Your support helps fund coaching, training, talent identification, athlete classification, equipment, and new opportunities for women, young people, and Palestinians with disabilities.

2. Represent Palestine on the world stage

Every race is an opportunity for Palestine to be seen through determination, excellence, and achievement. Your support enables Team Palestine to compete at UCI World Cups, Continental Championships, and World Championships by covering specialist equipment, adaptive bicycles, travel, accommodation, race entries, and the day-to-day costs of elite sport.

3. Change how the world sees Palestine

Our impact extends far beyond the finish line. Through documentaries, photography, journalism, social media, public speaking, and international campaigns, we use sport to tell stories that challenge stereotypes and inspire millions around the world. Every competition becomes an opportunity to represent Palestine through resilience, leadership, and achievement.

4. Break down barriers to participation

For Palestinian athletes, reaching the start line often requires overcoming obstacles that most competitors never face. Your support helps fund visa applications, travel documents, insurance, permits, and the complex logistics required to compete internationally.

5. Build a lasting sporting legacy

Every competition strengthens Palestine's future in sport. Our athletes return with new coaching knowledge, technical expertise, international partnerships, and experience that helps develop the next generation of Palestinian para-athletes. Your support is helping build a sustainable national programme that will continue to grow for decades to come.

Why this matters:

1. Innovation

The Gaza Sunbirds are pioneering new approaches to rehabilitation, adaptive cycling, and athlete development in one of the world's most challenging environments. As our programme grows, we are developing knowledge and expertise that can benefit people with disabilities and organisations far beyond Palestine.

2. Sustainability

We are not simply funding today's athletes—we are building tomorrow's programme. By investing in coaches, local leadership, women's participation, athlete pathways, and international partnerships, we are creating the foundations for a self-sustaining Palestinian para-cycling movement.

3. From rehabilitation to representation

International para-sport depends on long-term athlete development. Your support enables us to identify new athletes, guide them through rehabilitation, international classification, and competition, creating a pathway from life-changing injury to representing Palestine on the world stage.

4. Creating role models

Our athletes are more than competitors. They are advocates, mentors, community leaders, and role models for thousands of Palestinians living with disabilities. Every athlete we support helps demonstrate that disability does not define a person's future.

Why sport?

Humanitarian aid helps people survive but sports helps people rebuild their lives.

For Palestinians living with life-changing injuries, cycling offers rehabilitation, independence, confidence, community, and purpose. It creates role models for young Palestinians with disabilities while showing the world that Palestine is defined not only by hardship, but also by resilience, excellence, and hope.

We believe Palestinians deserve the opportunity not only to survive, but to thrive, compete, and lead.

Every donation helps transform a survivor into an athlete, an athlete into an ambassador, and an ambassador into a leader for Palestine.

Together, we can ensure that the Palestinian flag continues to fly on the world's biggest sporting stages.